Plasma Cam Software Issue

[Crawdaddy]

Can anyone tell me why a image in the Plasma Cam would distort for no reason. We will have the image ready to cut paths and have all the intersections cleared up and some of the letters will get bigger or when we detect intersections again, there will be 30+ and we just cleared them all up!!! This is so frustrating. Thanks for any recommendations anyone may have.

We save often to prevent this but it still happens.

[elkriverfab]

I had the same problem if my images are very complex, (for example).

If I complete a design, convert to cut paths and ask it to give me a cut preview.

It would at times lock up and freeze.

If I did not save my work during the designing, it was all lost.

I also had your issue when cutting a part and using the copy feature to duplicate it and move it to an area on my sheet that was uncut.

My image would distort and break my linked segments, making my image useless.

Here is what I found helps:

I installed a video game graphics card on my computer ($100.00 get a good one).

This will give you more virtual on screen memory (computer screen keeps up with tasks in plasmacam)

It helps the computer keep its speed during processing I guess.

I also found it helped with a lot of error messages.

I was told that the card I installed basically boosted my computers graphics processing.

I found it helps run the table better too.

I rarely have any problems with that now unless it is a highly complex design, I just make sure I save the file often and back them up on discs.

I hope this helps.

Shawn.

[Ironman]

Can anyone tell me why a image in the Plasma Cam would distort for no reason. We will have the image ready to cut paths and have all the intersections cleared up and some of the letters will get bigger or when we detect intersections again, there will be 30+ and we just cleared them all up!!! This is so frustrating. Thanks for any recommendations anyone may have.

We save often to prevent this but it still happens.

If you highlight, hit X to explode and the K to reconnect and then do a Smooth and put in .005 that will correct alot of those wild hair things.
However....if you have a cut path offset greater than the radius of a curve you will still get problems.
Example,, a birds wing with the root notch where feathers come together.
If this is an outside path the wing will try to get larger by the amount specified. Say .03, to compensate for a .060 kerf to maintain the drawn size.
So you have a narrow channel at this point where the feathers join that is .55 and you have a radius end. Now when you convert to path, each feather moves closer by .030 and the root of the feathers where you had your nice little radius has had its lines cross and make an x at the end. Viola! intersections.

For art I would set the offset a 0. If it is important, I convert each line individually and then I can leave some lines and convert them at 0 offset.

[Jetdctr]

You may also have multiple images on top of each other. This is very hard to tell and is a pain in the rear to clear up easliy.

Select an area that you suspect may have a problem, to highlight it, delete and click redraw, if the image reappears, then you had a multiple drawing, if it doesn't reappear, then click undo to bring back your original drawing section.